Ugly Stik Catfish Rod

Hey guys- Just got a Medium Heavy 7' (16-30lb) Shakespeare Ugly Stick Catfish Rod. While I liked the Berkley big game rod the only ones I could find locally were 6'mh or 7'6 m. Although I liked the 7'6 length, medium just had no backbone, and the 6' just seemed too short. The Striper rodwas nice, but it was super duper flippy tip- I beleive it was more for straight downrigging/ suspending live bait at depths- so for once it seems something labeled as speceis specific might actually be right on the money. I put a PENN 209 M on it. I couldnt decide on mono or braid, and as I know the advantages/disadvantages of both, I went with 30lb. Yo-Zuri Hybrid, a copolymer line with flourocarbon shell and nylon inner. Less stretch and thinner than your standard mono, but not quite the stiffness of braid. I think this set up should prove nice, but I still have a lot to learn and any input (positive or negative) would be very good. I do a lot of other fishing, but I'm newer to the catfishing scene. I'm headed to Tennessee river this weekend to hunt for some (hopefully) big cats with this set up and thought it be a good idea to ask the brotherhood for input
__________________If at first I don't succeed... I buy more rods and reels

thanks guys, I appreciate the input. I use an abu 6000 on a MH7' Abu conolan and for a $30 rod and $55 dollar reel its been almost as good to me as some of my shimano set-ups, and thats shown me a lot about finding affordable(and good!) tackle.its good for my striper fishing but this Ugly cat and 209 is just a lot of muscle for the whiskers... cant wait to hit it this weekend

A timely post for me. Just getting into the catfishing game. Dug out my old fishing gear. I found a ABU 6000 I've had since the early 70's. Was making the rounds tonight at Wally Mart and the local Gander Mountain shopping rods. Seems the Ugly Stik at $27.00 is the best deal after reading here.

I gotta say I like a graphite rod just for being able to feel the fight a little more, but Ugly Cat stick is a total butt whooper- no doubt. I broke it in this last weekend by catching 250lb of cat in 6 hrs. Had a ball

I've got two "Big Water" Ugly Stiks and I will put them up against a lot of custom rods that cost a lot more! I guess the best endorsement I can give is to say that there will be more Ugly Stiks in my repertoire by next spring!:smile2: 250 lbs of catfish in 6 hours! WOWSERS!! I bet you DID have FUN!! I also think you might have stopped off and picked up a tube of "Ben-Gay" on the way home for that arm too!:wink: :lol: Fraternally,Coyote1[[[[[End of Post]]]]]

I bought one of the 7 ft catfish ugly stiks and bought a cat maxx reel. I spooled it with 25 lb ande. So, i hooked into a massive blue and the rod splintered to pieces at the rods two connecting pieces.

I bought one of the 7 ft catfish ugly stiks and bought a cat maxx reel. I spooled it with 25 lb ande. So, i hooked into a massive blue and the rod splintered to pieces at the rods two connecting pieces.